1970 International Scout 800 - Ugly Old Beauty!

Around 1830, Cyrus Hall McCormick started building a solid reputation as a manufacturer of dependable agricultural equipment. Later, after merging his company with Deering Harvester and a few smaller ones, International Harvester was created and went on to build legendary machinery, tractors, and trucks. IH introduced the Scout in 1961 to compete with Jeep and jump into the relatively new off-highway automotive adventure lifestyle. The Scout was built for backcountry exploration, hunting, and farm life, and was always advertised slogging through mud, rocks, and rivers. Today, enthusiasts like Brian Carta keep International Harvester's reputation alive with cool rigs like this rockcrawling, sandblasting '70 Scout 800.

The license plate reads "SCT AHLC," and we think Brian certainly is a Scout-aholic with the amount of work he has put into his rig. The rear of his 800 is fully tubed and caged and fitted with a 30-gallon custom aluminum fuel tank and a very cool custom aluminum toolbox.

It's not very often we find longtime four-wheel fanatics that still own their very first off-road machine. Brian bought this Scout in the early '90s to satisfy his personal need for off-road adventure. As a seasoned technician at Tag Motorsports in Escondido, California, and an avid fabricator, Brian has the skills to customize his rig. This build has been many years in the making, and he tells us that it may never be completed. But it's moving right along with unique custom features such as the entire firewall of the cab which has been tube-framed, reinforced, and fitted with sheetmetal. Plans for the Scout include a front triangulated link suspension and King coilover shocks. The old rig certainly isn't a "pretty" restoration job, but it is purpose-built and functions exceptionally well off-road-and this Scout's beauty is more than skin deep.